Colleen Hoover is an American author who writes adult fictions and romance novels. She is best known for her 2016 romance novel, It Ends with Us. “It starts with us” is a sequel to this book which was published in the year 2022.
(The review consists of information from the first book, so “spoiler alert.”)
The first book is all about Lily’s experience of witnessing domestic violence in her house and how she was unlucky enough for it to have happened again when became an adult. She falls in love with a guy named Ryle and gets married to him but then later finds out that he is an abuser just like her dad was. It ends with Lily being brave and choosing to walk out of the marriage because she did not want her daughter’s life to be like hers.
The first book also mentions the childhood that Lily and Atlas shared, from Lilys point of view because she used to write everything in her diary. The second book, that is “It starts with us,” starts with Lily crossing paths with Atlas after her divorce. Even though Lily wishes to be with Atlas; she keeps avoiding it because Ryle hates Atlas and Ryle was an important part of Lily’s life because they had a child together. The story also involves Atlas’s family and how he finds new information about his family which takes him through a rollercoaster of emotions.
It ends with us, as all the reviews on the web said, is painful to read. But books hurt the most when you can personally relate to the character’s life, so in all honesty it was a little more painful for me. And hence when “It starts with us” was published, I was super excited. I really wanted Lily and Atlas to be happy and in love. But after reading the book I was a tad bit disappointed. It did not have the drama that I expected but nonetheless it is a good story. The one thing that I really liked about the book is that it has all kinds of love. It has maternal love, love of an older brother and of course the romantic kind too. And the book also has a deeper meaning of moving on and being brave enough to fall in love again. If you are a book lover and if you have already read the part one of it, then you must grab this book, because it is the conclusion that you deserve.
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